Elsie de Wolfe, Eleanor McMillen Brown, and Dorothy Draper...

Elsie de Wolfe, Eleanor McMillen Brown, and Dorothy Draper were three extraordinary women who pioneered the field we know today as interior decorating. All three of these women grew up in high societies, which gave them an excellent understanding of the rich, the famous and their expensive tastes. De Wolfe, McMillen, and Draper all had prominent careers from the mid 1800’s until the early to mid 1900’s. Most of their work was for the rich and famous in American high societies. Elsie de Wolfe was born in New York City in 1865. Although said to be an ugly little girl, from a young age she wowed people with her amazing sense style in clothing. She was a professional actress and was given the unique privilege to choose her own wardrobe for most of her roles. By 1877, de Wolfe had settled into a Boston Marriage –two women living together independent of men- and redecorated the house she shared with Elisabeth Marbury, another high society woman. It was after this redec oration that Elsie de Wolfe decided to go into business as a professional decorator. Eleanor McMillen Brown was born in 1890 in St. Louis, Missouri. After studying three years at Parsons in both New York and Paris, she attended business and secretarial school stating, â€Å"I thought if I was going to do it all, I better do it professionally† (Vogel, New York Times). Rather than working from her living room like most of her piers at the time, she paid $13,000 and opened up an office for herself off of East 55th StreetShow MoreRelatedThe Works of Elise de Wolfe,Eleanor Brown, and Dorothy Draper1284 Words   |  6 PagesInterior Decorators such as Elsie de Wolfe, Eleanor McMillen Brown, and Dorothy Draper helped to pave the way for the Interior Design profession today. Their influential decisions to stray away from the Victorian style of design helped guide both the interior decorating profession, as well as architects who no longer wanted to design in the bulky and cluttere d Victorian Style. Elsie de Wolfe designed during the Victorian movement, however â€Å"had adopted the 1890’s preference for Neoclassicism† (Smith